This invention relates to an improved breadmaker and a bread making system capable of maintaining the freshness of the bread contained therein by monitoring and maintaining the ambient conditions such as temperature and humidity inside the baking chamber of the breadmaker.
Conventional breadmaker used at home generally has a baking chamber containing an electric heater at the bottom, a baking pan to be set inside the baking chamber for receiving ingredients therein, a stirrer for stirring and kneading the ingredients inside the baking pan and a stirring motor for rotating the stirrer in a specific manner.
In order to have a loaf of bread ready for morning consumption, the ingredients are usually prepared in advance and placed inside the baking pan overnight and subject to different steps of the breadmaking process such as stirring, kneading, leavening and baking. The entire breadmaking process usually takes several hours during the night to complete. After the breadmaking process is completed, the bread is usually left inside the baking chamber undisturbed until morning time. It may be several hours from the time the bread is ready to the time of consumption. During that time period, the bread will likely cool down. If the bread is reheated, it will harden due to the lost of moisture from evaporation, and thus affecting the taste and texture of the bread made.
For example, attempts have been made to reheat the bread in a microwave oven before consumption. However, this method is not preferred because of the extra step of removing the bread from the breadmaker and transferring it to a dish for microwave warming. In addition, even after reheating by microwave, the texture of the bread is still not satisfactory because the microwave warming process does not introduce any moisture back into the bread.